1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to illumination devices and, more particularly, to illumination devices interconnected by a network and controlled based on groupings of those devices and content stored therein.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
The following descriptions and examples are provided as background only and are intended to reveal information that is believed to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the following information constitutes prior art impacting the patentable character of the subject matter claimed herein.
A certain type of illumination device, known as light emitting diodes (LEDs) for illumination are becoming increasing popular in many different markets. Accordingly, the use of the term illumination device hereinafter refers to a lamp that is based on the use of one or more LEDs. LEDs provide a number of advantages over traditional light sources, such as incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs, including low power consumption, long lifetime, no hazardous material, and additional specific advantages for different applications. Of particular importance is that for general illumination, LEDs provide the opportunity to adjust the color or the color temperature to produce different lighting effects. For example, effects such as tint, vibrancy and brightness can be adjusted through the use of lamps based on lamps having LEDs. The color, color temperature and lighting effects can also be modified as a function of time in accordance with what is known as the circadian rhythm, or can be modified to produce different lighting scenes or, as a function of time, lighting shows.
Another advantage of the use of LED lamps is that the lamps can be configured to communicate with one another wirelessly. The color, color temperature and lighting effects can be modified through use of a wireless network of lamps placed within a residence. As noted hereinafter, a residence is any structural dwelling that contains at least a portion of the network of lamps that are interconnected wirelessly and can be controlled by a user within that residence or coupled to the residence by, for example, the internet.
The various types of networks that interconnect devices in general are fairly well known and documented. However, it is not until recently, since the advent of LED-type lamps, that lamps can be more readily controlled through wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Due to the nature of the solid-state control mechanism of LEDs, command signals can be sent across the wireless network to adjust, for example, color, brightness or lighting effects. However, the primary purpose of such networked lighting control systems is to be able to group the commands based upon sensor readings taken at one or more of the networked lamps in order to make the adjustments specific to a group within the network. Such network lighting control systems recognize that it is unfeasible to assign scenes to a group of lamps interconnected through a network since it is burdensome for a user to do so and because there is an almost infinite number of possible lighting scenes. Thus, many of the network-based conventional lighting control system take readings of the surrounding environment (e.g., whether it is light or dark within the room) and adjust a specific group of the networked lamps accordingly based on the sensor readings, and not based on scenes that are assigned to the group. See, for example, U.S. Pub. Nos. 2013/0285574 and 2014/0167623.
It is therefore desirable to implement lamps having LEDs that are interconnected through a WPAN, and which can be controlled in any fashion to adjust brightness, color or any lighting effect, either static or as a function of time, without necessarily relying on the conventional mechanism of using the LEDs for sensing the surrounding environment and adjusting the network control accordingly. A need exists for using an improved broadcast mechanism to specific groups of lamps, hereinafter referred to as the improved groupcast messaging system with an aggregated acknowledgment along a single path, in what is known as the improved unicast acknowledged message system. A need also exists for assigning any visual content into a group set of lamps, such content and grouping is adaptable to anything the user desires and, if needed, scenes or content can be pre-defined within certain pre-assigned groups, so that when a group is selected, the content within the grouped lamps will produce the corresponding color, brightness or lighting effects desired. Sensing by one or more of the lamps is not needed in order to set the scenes, and thus the content within the lamps. A substantially limitless number of scenes can be chosen by a user or a select few can be pre-defined, thus avoiding the detriments of the conventional network lighting control systems.